Die Unbeugsamen
100 min. | Director Torsten Körner | 2022 Germany | German with English subtitles | PAL
Die Unbeugsamen tells the story of the women in the Bonn Republic, who literally had to fight for their participation in the democratic decision-making processes against men obsessed with success and drunk on office like real pioneers. Fearless, ambitious and with infinite patience, they pursued their path and defied prejudice and sexual discrimination. Politicians from back then have their say today. Her memories are at once funny and bitter, absurd and at times frighteningly topical. Intertwined with partially unseen archive excerpts, the documentary filmmaker and journalist Torsten Körner ("Angela Merkel - The Unexpected") has succeeded in creating an emotionally moving chronicle of West German politics from the 1950s to reunification. The images he found unfold with such force that the cinema can be rediscovered as a place of political self-assurance. An insightful contemporary document that makes an unmistakable contribution to the current discussion.
When Torsten Körner started developing Die Unbeugsamen in 2015, it was not yet foreseeable that the American presidential elections would bring an openly misogynistic president into the White House. The Weinstein scandal and the ongoing #MeToo debate about abuse of power and sexual violence as well as the rise of populists, autocrats and clown politicians were still ahead of us when Körner embarked on an extraordinary, unique cinematic journey through time. He was traveling with numerous female pioneers from the Bonn Republic, whom he invited to their old workplaces to interview them - including Herta Däubler-Gmelin (SPD), Marie-Elisabeth Klee (CDU), Ursula Männle (CSU), Christa Nickels (Die Grünen), Ingrid Matthäus-Maier (FDP/SPD), Renate Schmidt (SPD) and Rita Süssmuth (CDU). Historical recordings also show political figures such as Aenne Brauksiepe (CDU), Hildegard Hamm-Brücher (FDP), Waltraud Schoppe and Petra Kelly (Die Grünen). Impressive and inspiring, the multifaceted look back at the West German past provides valuable impulses for the present and the future.